1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to spring electric contact assemblies in which a resilient spring having a contact at a free end projects from an insulating body member in which it is anchored.
2. Prior Art
Spring contact devices, particularly relay devices, which utilize a movable contact spring which is secured at one end to a substantially rigid spring carrier or mounting member and which has a free end carried contact which is biased towards an opposed fixed contact and wherein the spring carrying member is angularly secured in guide slots of an insulated body are known to the art.
A contact spring arrangment of this type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,819,896 wherein a contact spring carrier is utilized which is clamped in an insulating body in an L-shaped configuration with respect to the spring with the spring projecting therefrom. This type of construction allows a considerable actual contact spring free length while at the same time providing a good seat in the insulating body.
However, with the typical prior art construction, above described, the length of the spring necessitates laterally supporting the contact springs on an abuttment of the insulating body in order to produce the requisite bias force. In the known arrangement, the abuttment is formed by a protrusion of the insulating body and the bias bend of the contact spring rests on the protrusion. This has the disadvantage that variations in dimensioning of the insulating body with regard to the support wall or in the dimensioning of the spring receiving slot in the insulating body or in the spring itself can all accumulate unfavorably to the final construction. This in turn can result in a corresponding variance in the contact force at the contact end of the spring. Particularly, at high temperature loads, the danger exists that the insulating body support point will become deformed and that the spring force at the contact will thereby alter. This possibility of variance in contact force must therefore be taken into account in the design of the contact actuator system so that, for example, for safety reasons, the selected contact response actuation perameters must be designed higher than desired.